Back to the Tomb: Discussing Warring States Manuscripts as Archeological Artifacts

The last decades have seen a surge in archeological discoveries in China. Among many artifacts, there is an unprecedented number of manuscripts in the form of bamboo strips produced during the Warring States and (457-221BCE) the Han empires (206 BCE – 220 CE). While they are proper archeological artifacts, these manuscripts are often studied as textual entities, and their original context of discovery is sidelined. This paper aims to discuss the manuscripts by placing them back in their archeological context. It overviews several manuscript corpora from the Warring States, their place of discovery, and how tombs in which they were found compares to other tombs within the same cemeteries. The goal is to understand what the archeological contexts can tell us about the society that produced these tombs and the manuscripts within. Secondarily, I am to see whether this modeling can be used to contextualize looted manuscripts, which are often assumed to have been taken from tombs.